Last Friday, Stewart Theatre began to fill up with people ready to laugh and have a good time for The 39th Annual Pan-Afrikan Comedy show. Everyone in the audience laughed until they cried with almost every comedian’s performance.
The Host Lav Luv was so entertaining he could have held the show all by his self. Lav Luv has performed on BET’s “Comicview” several times, and continues to host various events. Not one person would have been disappointed if he told his crazy jokes the whole time. Everything he did and said was funny, even his clothing. One of Lav’s funniest moments was when he named the basic components necessary to make a successful R&B music video. In his live recreation, the DJ played one of R&B singer, Tyrese Gibson’s, popular songs and we watched him act out a hilarious rendition of a video. He rubbed his bald head, danced, and walked in slow motion, and danced with a girl from the audience. At the end of the show, someone requested that he do “Tyrese” one more time. It was classic.
Next, comedian Karlous came out on stage. He was not the biggest guy you will ever see, but he definitely had a big personality. He was one of those comedians that had no boundaries, and no limits. He said whatever he wanted whether it was about drugs, sex, or anything else that you might would hesitate to talk about so publicly. That’s what made him so funny. He had no problem crossing the line and saying those off-the-wall statements. Even though he wasn’t the headliner, he could have very well been a satisfying one. He set the stage for the next two comedians. Many people may have thought it couldn’t get any funnier than him, but the next two comedians were equally entertaining.
Rob Stapleton was next in the line-up with his heavy “up north” accent. One of his craziest moments came when he harassed one of the students in the audience by trying to dance on him. Yes, I said him. He was trying to prove how girls can dance with their girlfriends but men would never even come remotely close to dancing with one another. So he proceeded to hop into the front row and attempt to straddle a young man. The young man jumped back as far as he could. Later he ended up having to run from him! It was definitely one of the highlights of the show.
The headliner Gary Owen closed the show. He deserved his title as the headliner because he delivered a great show. What made him so funny was how he was not afraid to talk about black people in front of black people just because he was white, and he was also not afraid to talk about his own race either. He has an equal balance of jokes that focus on each race, and what made him even better was he can drop a joke at the drop of a dime. The best part in my opinion was when he opened up the floor for questions from the audience. The person asks a question, and Owen answered with a great response that resulted in an eruption of laughter.
Some of the questions were, “What do you like about black women?” because all throughout the show, he made it clear that his heart is with the “Sistas.”
He was also asked, Have you ever been to “the hood?” His responses were priceless. This was a good opportunity for Owen to show how good he was at thinking quick on his feet, and just an overall great comedian. Owen asked that we all tune in to Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, because he will now be playing a barber on the show.
All three of these comedians are exceptionally great at what they do. This lineup of comedians kept the crowd laughing until their stomach’s hurt, and until they had tears in their eyes. Everyone left laughing, and repeating the best lines from the comedians. They all did a wonderful job, and if you missed it, you missed out.
